The “Break it Down” Blog

Kevin Mahaffey sent in a 1-off but damn interesting find by New York high school students Kate Stoeckle and Louisa Strauss: 25% of sushi you buy is not what you ordered (it’s usually something cheaper).

The NYT covered the story in which the girls got 60 different samples of sushi from around New York, then using “a simplified genetic fingerprinting technique” identified the actual fish found in the sushi. Some examples of the shenanigans that chefs are using to lower costs:

They found that one-fourth of the fish samples with identifiable DNA were mislabeled. A piece of sushi sold as the luxury treat white tuna turned out to be Mozambique tilapia, a much cheaper fish that is often raised by farming. Roe supposedly from flying fish was actually from smelt. Seven of nine samples that were called red snapper were mislabeled, and they turned out to be anything from Atlantic cod to Acadian redfish, an endangered species.

While not blowing the lid off of any underground fish-smuggling ring, it’s still an interesting bit of corruption that you might not realize is happening if you are a sushi eater.

I will guarantee you that the next time you sit down and want to pay $8 for a roll of some kind… you might think twice about it.